If you can live with its low-res screen, Lenovo's semi-rugged, fully flexible Chromebook convertible is a winning choice for classrooms and consumers alike.

If you can live with its low-res screen, Lenovo's semi-rugged, fully flexible Chromebook convertible is a winning choice for classrooms and consumers alike.

Meet the Lenovo 500e Chromebook

Call it "Junior's First ThinkPad": Apart from a textured-plastic instead of plain matte-black lid, the Lenovo 500e Chromebook is bound to remind you of the company's legendary business laptops.

Typing on the 500e Chromebook

The keyboard has a shallow but snappy typing feel. It's one of the best budget-Chromebook keyboards we've used.

An Angled View of the Screen

The IPS panel is topped by Corning Gorilla Glass for ruggedness, and to defend against overzealous stylus pokes.

The 500e Keyboard Layout

The island-style keyboard follows standard chromebook conventions, with a search/app menu instead of a Caps Lock key and a top row of browser back, forward, reload, and system volume and brightness buttons.

Lid Logo

You can see the texture of the lid's plastic here.

Left Edge Ports

You'll find a USB 3.0 Type-A port and a USB Type-C port on the 500e Chromebook's left side, along with a microSD card slot and a headphone jack.

Right Edge Ports

The right edge hosts a volume rocker for use in tablet mode, as well as the power button, another pair of USB 3.0 and USB Type-C ports, and a Kensington-style cable-lockdown slot.

The Passive Stylus

The stylus is of the no-battery, simple stick variety.

Stylus Storage

The chassis has a niche in which to store the pen, so it's less likely to get lost.

Using the Stylus

Palm rejection on the touch panel worked well when drawing or poking with the stylus.